The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1887-05-13
THE CONDOR.
| Liberal Reward OIered for the Kill
in of the Great Bird of the Andes.


The Chilian Government is charged
with carry5ng on a novel war against
the condor of the Andes, looking to
its determination. 1t has issued a
proclamation declaring the bird to be
an enemy to the republic, and offering
a bounty of So head for every condor
killed.
The gigantic vulture has increased
so rapidly in the past few years
all along the western slope of the
great mountain chain that they have
become a scourge upon the country,
and by liberal bounty the Gov
eminent hopes to extermlnate or at
least to reduce their number.
A man who had heard the story was
induced to visit Chill in the hopes of
making money in condor hunting, he
being an experienced mountain climber
and hunter.
Five months of persistent hunting
and trapping convinced him that he
was not smart enough to cope with
the big-winged outlaw with the ex-
pectatiou of getting rich on condor
bouuties; and, further, that if Chill
expects to rid itself of the bird every
man. woman and child must take up
arms against it.
persistent persecution have rendered
the bird so wary and suspicious that
it is next to impossible to get within
gunshot of one. Snares are the only
means of taking condors with any de-
gree of certainty, and even these the
vulture has learned to avoid.
They have the most wonderful power
of vision and fight. Perched among
the mountain peaks above the clouds,
they watch the trails thousands of feet
below them.
If an animal dies and is left in
the plain, these monsters see 1t. Al
though no human eye can distinguish
the presence of a single bird, IN
a few seconds time they viii be
seen dropping from the clouds like
thunder bolts.
Formerly the hunter took advantage
of this by hiding within gunshot and
picking of one or two cOndOrs be-
fore they could rise out of range.
Traps were also set near dead ami
mails.
But this can rarely be done sue
cessfuliy now so wary has the condor
become. The same wonderful eyes
that keep the trailing caravan in
view or discover the carcass left
living for its use. note also the hunters
hiding place or the trapper arranging
his snare-and the bird sits quietly on
its perch.
To shoot it on the wing, unless YOU
are fortunate enough to lie sccr6ted
near some lofty peak, when The bird
comes sailing through tle clouds to
seek perch, Is entirely out OF the
question, for it flies at attitudes such
IS no other bird attains. This
lying in wait far above the snow
line for a chance to put bali through
a condor is something that requires
more grit aud nerve than the average
hunter possesses.
These birds hatch their young among
the snow-ro-ered Crags of the Andes
sometimes 1900 feet above the sea.
The bird has been seen at an altitude of
10000 feet.
Once in a great while a hunter Is
bold enough to Chamber among these
crags In search of nests. The capture
of the young or the eggs Is as
profitable as killing a grown bird,
but such finds are few and far
between.
There are always two eggs In a
nest, and as nothing ventures to make
the condor its prey except the hunter,
when the bird makes its nest it
does so with the certainty that none
but the very boldest hunterscan ap-
prOach the nesting place.
There Is no more startling sight
than from some snowy rock so high
in the mountains that the clouds
hide the world from your view. to
see one of those immense birds break
through the dense vapor below you,
and sail upward with the broad
sweep of its wings in the haunts
I, l. =
like some winged demon daring to
seek the realms of the sky.
This bird can stand a range of tenn
perature beyond which human exist
ence Is impossible. It Is at home
among the snowy peaks of Chilli and
Peru as well as upon the burning sands
of Bolivia.
With a sweep of wing twelve feet In
extent, the swiftness of its flight Is
such that it VIII sail out Of sight,
Notwithstanding its vast size within a
very few minutes. 1t may with ease
eat its breakfast in the northern Andes
and twelve hours later rOOst among the
peaks of the southern seacoast-
If it were possible to get at the
nests and eggs of the condor there
would be some chance of oxtermina-
tion, but the systematic scaling of icy
to $1,000 feet for the purpose of bird
nesting, even at S5 an egg, is not likely
to prove profitable.
Poisoning the bird might be made
effectual, but unless some poison can
be made so deadly that it viii Kill
the bird as it stands over the
carcass that means of determination
cannot be made practical.
The hunter must produce evidence
that he has killed a condor before he
can secure the bounty. That evi-
dence is the birds head which a
poisoned bird carries off with him.
The aux and the buffalo can be ex-
terminated, and man is master of the
situation with most birds and NAM
mails. but the condor has the quality
of self-preservation too admirably de
veloped to make its annihilation ever
probable.
When the last South American dies
there viii be plenty Of condors among
the peaks ready to devOur his body.
To Make Clothing Waterproof.
1t is fOuud that when paraffine Is